The iPhone SE (2020) Review: A Reinvigorated Classic
by Andrei Frumusanu on April 24, 2020 6:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Apple
- Smartphones
- iPhone SE
- Apple A13
- iPhone SE 2020
System Performance
Performance-wise, the inclusion of the new A13 chip should essentially blow the iPhone 8 out of the water given it’s two generations newer than the A11. For more details about the A13, please read our in-depth coverage of the chip in our review of the iPhone 11 series.
In the steady-state Javascript web benchmarks, the iPhone SE unsurprisingly matches the newer iPhone 11. In JetStream, the phone even gets a boost here, which might be due to the newer iOS version. I haven’t had the chance to re-test the older iPhones, but I’m certain the scores will level out across the A13 generation devices.
On WebXPRT 3, the iPhone SE did score quite a bit worse than the iPhone 11 phones. This test is more interactive in its workloads and more impacted by DVFS responsiveness, rather than just being a continuous stead-state load. It’s very much possible that Apple has tuned down the DVFS of the chip in order to remain at the more power efficient frequency states for more workloads. I haven’t had the time to update Xcode to run our workload ramp test yet – but it’s something that can be easily verified in a follow-up update on the topic.
Update April 29th:
I was also able to verify the CPU frequencies of the A13 in the iPhone SE, and the phone tracks identical peak frequencies as on the iPhone 11. This means that we're seeing 2.66GHz peak clocks on the Lightning cores when a single core is on, and up to around 2.59GHz when both cores are enabled. The Thunder cores clock in at up to 1.73GHz as well, just as on the iPhone 11’s.
The DVFS of the two phones is also identical – with the same ramp-up times between the SE and the iPhone 11. In general, any performance differences between the new SE and the flagship phones should simply be due to thermal characteristics of the smaller phone, possibly throttling things faster when under more strenuous workloads.
Overall Performance
Whilst I haven’t had too much time on the SE, the first impressions of the device are very much that this is just an as good experience as the iPhone 11 series. Much like on the iPhone 11 series, I actually feel that the raw performance of the hardware is actually hampered by the software, for example animations could be much shorter or even disabled in order to improve the user’s experience of speed and responsiveness. In either case, the iPhone SE’s performance is fantastic, and that’s due to the A13 chipset’s raw power.
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euskalzabe - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
LineageOS does not support many devices out there. I should know, they've never supported any of the Moto or Nokia phones I've bought and wanted to install it on. Also, please a) don't lie about downgrading performance, it's been proven time and again that this is not necessarily so, and b) do not compare voiding your phone's warranty and performing a somewhat complicated phone flashing process VS simply installing an OEM-seeded OTA update. Those are two very, very different things.liquid_c - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
Oh, really? With zero security which means zero banking apps. I’d like to see you use your credit card with LineageOS. Also, is your one+ or whatever bargain bin crap of a phone you’re using with 100% battery health? Or just as speedy as day 1, right?Jesus, i despise rabid fans such as yourself. All you can do is muster up some useless excuses for how bad “X” is and how good and long-lasting “Y” is.
SMOKEU - Sunday, May 10, 2020 - link
I signed up to TH just to respond to your ridiculous comment.I've "used" credit cards on LineageOS for many years with one of the largest banks in this country with NO issues whatsoever. Even the official bank app works fine.
OnePlus One was never a "bargain bin crap of a phone". It was a high end device when released.
cha0z_ - Thursday, August 6, 2020 - link
You need to be burned just once to understand his comment. Using a credit card in 3rd party ROM/kernel and rooted phone has it's risks as it's a lot easier for a rogue app to steal your details, log your passwords and so on. Also I should tell you that it's common practice for stoled cards to not be used right away, but stored in database for future use before they expire. There is also always the risk that dev or someone helping the dev to put something in the ROM/kernel from the start. I can give you a lot of examples where people feel safe because it's open source only to end up that something rogue was there for years rofl and noone checked it out or found it.Why someone should even do with all those risks and time consuming things instead of buying iphone for less money than current samsung android phone? You get 6 years of day one full software support as their most expensive current iphone, you get better running apps with more features, hassle free and "it just works", a lot better screen mirroring that is so lag free and high quality that I use my 11 pro max as a console with my ps4 wireless controller, camera that takes the picture from the first try, video recording of insane quality with no rival at android front and whatnot + ios14 adds app drawer, widgets on your home screen, notification for incoming call instead of full screen when you use your phone, picture in picture so you can watch videos while doing something else or listen to audio while it's hidden... I mean, seriously. ios and android are not that different nowdays feature wise, but ios apps are just better with more features and better running, even google's own apps + you got 6 years of full support, better security, less spyware (say hi to google!) + my secondary 6s is great on the newest ios and totally ok for a daily driver phone. I also had 10 years of high end android phones history with my latest being exynos note 9 for 1k euro that is already not supported and still in me, I can tell you a totally different story how it was supported vs my iphone 11 pro max and ironically my iphone 6s that was literally supported the same great way as the 11 pro max, no discrimination at all.
Zerrohero - Friday, April 24, 2020 - link
“ 5 years of updates that will make it 10% slower every year and remove 10% battery life every year.”My 4,5 year old iPhone 6s runs the latest iOS and it’s very zippy. No performance issues whatsoever.
Battery replacement for SE is $49 or something like that, parts and labour, authorized service.
So, everything you wrote is rubbish. But *of course* you know it perfectly well.
Speedfriend - Saturday, April 25, 2020 - link
My 4,5 year old iPhone 6s runs the latest iOS and it’s very zippyThat is just rubbish, my work iPhone 7 has slowed down significantly to the point where I often tap at it twice thinking I didn't touch it properly. And it battery life in use is down significantly too.
hlovatt - Sunday, April 26, 2020 - link
My original, 4 year old, iPhone SE runs great on latest OS. So no, no slowing with OS updates. I did get the battery replaced about a year ago though.cha0z_ - Thursday, August 6, 2020 - link
Then you either got a defective phone or bugged down the ios. You know, there is no operating system in the world that is user proof to be gentle. :)I also have secondary iphone 6s that ran half of ios12, ios 13 from the beta and till the last one and currently ios14 beta with all the new features like picture in picture, app drawer, widgets and it runs smooth as silk + fast. So your problem is with your unit, either because there is something wrong with it or because the operating system is broken by you/someone who used the phone before you and need a fresh reinstall.
cha0z_ - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
I have second hand iphone 6s with changed battery, running ios 14 beta 3 and before that ios 13 with all it's subversions. It's as fast and smoother than my exynos note 9, so you are talking bs. :)Also lol at lineage argument. It's always NOT like officially released base + firmware + rom. I know, I am on XDA from over 10 years + gave my fair share developing (mainly for HTC phones). Also there are things like note line, running lineage will do what? Exactly, remove 50% what makes that phone a note and manually returning some apps will not fix that. Porting is the next option, but that also got it's flaws. Not to mention that development is far far far from what it was back around 2010-2014 peak.
Ofc android is great and all, but don't take away points from apple and what they do right when android phone makers charge you the same or recently - MORE than what apple does, but they don't want to adopt apple's support policy. :)
P.S. I also have iphone 11 pro max from almost a year and the battery is at 98%, because I am not stupid to use fast charger. Same thing with my note 9 - fast charging turned off in settings day one and the battery is in great shape. Fast charging speed up battery degradation by a lot. So dunno about your 10% every year, maybe if someone use unoriginal faulty cheap power adapter and/or cable - sure, even more in some cases.
sonny73n - Saturday, April 25, 2020 - link
Another sheep thinking updates actually make the phone better. Are you mentally ill? Haven’t you noticed FOR THE LAST 10 years, every time an iDevice got updated, it slowed down?